I was in St Anne’s for 3 weeks
Although I was recovering from a near death experience, it was tremendous fun.
Many of the young nurses were from Niger, a former French colony in Africa
Theses young black nurses gossiped, sang, laughed, and introduced me to bed baths and later to the shower chair. They never stopped talking. I could not follow their very quick French, so they would try English words that they knew from music and film.
They worked in pairs.
One nurse called herself “Shocking” to the delight of her partner.
Nearly ever day a very tall male French nurse would walk ino my room and exclaim “C’est La Bordelle’
I think that nurse’s name was Jean Paul
He cheered me up with his loud strong voice reciting blues lyrics.
An English patient named Mary befriended me after the nurses told her I needed to learn some French.
Mary had been an English teacher in Paris for many years.
Mary explained and translated for me and tried really hard to correct my French pronunciation.
I fear my Australian twang defeated her.
After one of my monologues, Mary asked me “Are you finished?” I replied no, I was Australian and had not even been to Scandanavia or Finland.
